The Fear Factor

The theme of fear is a recurrent one when dealing with people who feel stuck, emotionally or physically. Sometimes the fear is of something real, at times it is fear of the imagined. When you strive to help the individual recognize their fear, approach it and work through it the amount of resistance that the person can manifest is amazing. To get them to first recognize the role of fear in their approach to life, can in and of itself be life changing. With this realization the person can sometimes feel energized to approach the fear, come close to it so that they can neutralize it with understanding and behavioral tools. It’s not surprising however that the opposite can also happen. This is a time that those working with the individual can get very frustrated, and that the individual also can feel that they have disappointed those trying to help them and stop seeking help.

This fear that paralyzes people, sometimes appears to be an insurmountable obstacle to moving forward in life. In Judges 6 we meet a character named Gideon who embodies all that is timid and fear driven. He is a young man charged by an angel of God to be a “mighty warrior”. Something that he has never seen himself as and no one in his community sees him as either. As you read Judges 6 -9, you see his journey from fear to faith. His constant need for reassurance that he can accomplish the tasks given to him is at times funny, and at times annoying. But through it all you can see that God has patience with him and meets his fear with reassurance.

The message for those of us working with people who are paralyzed with fear is to know that we need to be patient with them. It difficult to change long held beliefs about ourselves, especially when we are surrounded by a community that agrees with our poor image. In Judges Gideon was not removed and placed in a more supportive community, but was challenged to believe who God said he was, in spite of what he or anyone else claimed him to be. We in the helping professions know that at times we are the only voice that a person will hear that supports a positive self image. We may be the voice that tells them that they can achieve a change of lifestyle, accomplish a goal of wellness, be it physical, or emotional. And in the process we may have to extend a lot of support and reassurance to help them to keep moving forward. Because as we know; most change doesn’t occur overnight. We need to recognize the power of fear and be ready to go the distance with those we are committed to help. The hope is that the end result resembles the end that Gideon was able to realize. He went from not seeing himself as a “mighty warrior” to being recognized by his greatest enemy as having the “bearing of a prince”. He was no longer taunted, laughed at and was recognizable to himself and other as mighty.